Heathkit HW-9 Kit

A complete kit of parts for the Heathkit HW-9 became available on Ebay just recently and the opportunity to build such a rig from scratch was just too much to overlook.

The Heathkit HW-9 was the third in the series of QRP transceivers and was produced between 1984 - 1991. It has a very good superhet receiver and an optional WARC bands kit and therefore covered all bands between 80 and 10 metres with slightly higher power output than its predecessor.

The HW-9 is shown in the picture below 

Specifications for the HW-9

Transmitter

RF output Power                   CW - 4 watts on all bands except 3 watts on 10 metres

Frequency Offset                  700 Hz Lower on all bands

Harmonic Radiation                  - 30dB minimum at rated output

Spurious Radiation                   - 40 dB minimum at rated output

CW Sidetone                             700 Hz to speaker or headphones O/P level adjustable.

Receiver 

Senstivity                                   < .3uV for 10dB S+NN. < .2uV for readable signal.

Selectivity, CW Audio Filter    Narrow - 250 Hz max at 6dB

                                                   Wide - 1 KHz max at 6dB

Passband Centre Frequency    700 Hz approx

Dynamic Range                        85 dB in narrow filter mode

Image rejection                         60 dB minimum

IF rejection                               60 dB minimum

Internally generated In-Band Spurious   Typically belwow 2 uV except at 3.695, 7.166, 10.150, 14.041

                                                                                                                          14.083, 21.195, 28.089 and 

                                                                                                                          29.093 MHz

RIT                                             +/- 1 KHz

Here is the picture of the bits and pieces purchased for building the Heathkit HW-9 from scratch.

As the parts were taken out of the original box, it has taken time to identify which pack of components, shown in the brown bags, pertains to which section of the manual. They have now been identified so the build will commence shortly. It would appear that I have to acquire the optional pack of components to make this tranceiver work on the WARC bands but I suspect that I can manage without them for a while!

There are three parts to the build in the form of the Oscillator Board, the T/R Circuit Board and the Chassis.

The PCB's are shown below

More to follow .............................